This year, Millard South High School is making a pivotal change in its fundraising strategy by discontinuing the school pageant, “The Ultimate Patriot,” which was once known as Mr. Millard South. The decision to end the pageant comes after experiencing declining audience engagement and the considerable effort needed to stage the event. In its place, the school is introducing an innovative auction organized by the National Honor Society (NHS), which was held Jan. 24.
The NHS auction was conceived as a new approach to maintain the momentum of successful fundraising efforts. Rylee Newman, NHS President, highlighted the reasoning behind this shift.
“We knew that without doing the show, we were going to need a good supplement fundraiser, and a majority of the money we raised doing the show came from the auction committee anyway. So we decided we wanted to keep the auction component in a different way.”
The preparation for the auction began in mid-November, as the NHS quickly assembled a committee to initiate contact with local businesses for donations. The rapid turnaround was necessary given the uncertainty about continuing other fundraisers. Over the past two months, NHS members have diligently worked to secure contributions, resulting in a diverse array of auction items. These include a $125 gift certificate to Massage Envy, a coffee maker, Runza meal vouchers, and Husker Hounds gear. Additionally, the school has contributed vouchers for parking passes, yearbooks, and activity passes.
Organizing the auction independently presented several challenges.
“It took a while to figure out what event we even wanted the auction to be an extension of, and then once we narrowed it down to basketball, we had to figure out which game we thought would be the most successful. Additionally, we had to pull everything together pretty fast, so it was sort of difficult to get in contact with businesses,” Newman said.
The NHS aims to use the auction proceeds to fund scholarships for seniors, providing them with opportunities to apply for financial support as they pursue higher education. This initiative ensures that the funds raised will directly benefit students, helping them create brighter futures in college.
Looking to the future, NHS is optimistic about the potential of auctions as a reliable fundraising method.
“I think we’re definitely going to be open to having auctions in the future just because of how successful they’ve been in the past for us in raising money. Obviously, we’re going to wait to see how it works out being a part of the basketball game, but as of now, it definitely seems like a great way for not only us to raise money but for Millard South to reach out to members of the community and get involved with them,” Newman said.
With this new approach, NHS hopes to continue supporting scholarships robustly while also engaging the community in meaningful ways with innovative events.
